Grain distributor



Nov. 2, 1943. R. A. PATTERSON 2,333,332

GRAIN DISTRIBUTOR I Filed Feb. 19, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet l' 96 R. A. Patter-son.

1943. R. A. PATTERSON GRAIN DISTRIBUTOR Filed Feb. 19

, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 1943. R. A. PATTERSON 2,333,332

GRAIN DISTRIBUTOR Filed Feb. 19, 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Inventor: R. AIPodrber-son.

,1943. R. A. PATTERSON ,332.

GRAIN DISTRIBUTOR 1942 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Feb. 19

Kttorne Patented Nov. 2, 1943 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE GRAIN DISTRIBUTOR Bay A. Patterson, San Diego, Calif.

' Application February 19, 1942, Serial No. 431,515

11 Claims.

My invention relates to a grain distributor for use in grain elevators, and has for its object to provide means for conveniently and effectively delivering grain from one or more elevator legs to a multiplicity of bins in the grain elevator.

In grain elevators, particularly the smaller type country elevators, the elevator space is divided into a series of bins extending from the top of distributor floor to a point sufficiently near the ground so that the grain may be chuted from the bottom of said bin into a railroad car or other transportation receptacle.

In such elevators it is customary to dump the grain from the trucks or wagons which bring it to the elevator into a receptacle from which it feeds to the lower run of what is customarily referred to as an elevating leg. This elevating leg comprises an endless belt running over a head pulley at the top and a similar pulley at the bottom, and having positioned at regular intervals thereon a series of open topped cups or buckets. These cups or buckets, as they pass through the receptacle at the bottom into which the grain is being delivered or filled with the grain and as they pass over the head pulley in the distributing room at the top the buckets discharge into an angularly disposed downwardly extending chute. This chute in turn delivers to some type of distributor mechanism by which the grain is selectively caused to flow into any selected one of the bins.

Such distributors as heretofore used have been laid out upon the floor of the distributor chamber and the chutes have extended angularly to the bins below the distributor floor, thus rendering a considerable part of the upper portion of the bins unusable. This requires a great deal more room for the installation of the old type distributor, frequently necessitating extensive additions to buildings in order to find space to install it. Also the older type installations have not been effective in eliminating the discharge of dust above the distributor floor and from the bins. The older types were hard to install and diilicult to effect shift of spouting from one bin to another, and that had to take place from the distributor floor itself. I

It is broadly an object of my invention to eliminate all the above noted objections and disadvantageous features of distributors as now employed and to provide a distributor easy to install requiring a small amount of room and easy and simple of operation.

It is a particular object of my invention to provide a grain distributor wherein its use both in the delivery of grain and in shifting from one to another bin is accomplished without the discharge of dust into the atmosphere above the distributor floor or elsewhere in the elevator outside of the bins.

It is a further object of my invention to provide a grain distributor with simple and dust-tight means of shifting distribution from bin to bin.

It is a further object of my invention to construct shifting means so that it may be operated from the bottom floor of the elevator and will not require an operator on the distributor floor to effect such shifting.

' I1; is a further object of my invention to provide a distributor body which is angularly disposed adjacent the head casing of the elevator leg and which provides a downwardly extending chute for receiving the grain from the head casing, in combination with a slide trough adapted to be moved within said closed chute for shifting delivery of grain to any selected spouting to go to any selected bin.

In recent years, with the development of modern quick operating machinery, harvesting of. grain inthe grain raising regions, which formerly required periods of three or more months, is now accomplished in a few weeks. This results in putting greatly added pressure upon the small country elevators to handle the greatly increased amounts of grain coming to them in a shortened period of time. For this reason it has been desirable to multiply the number of legs for elevating grain, and'of course provide distributing means for sending such grain to the different bin as its grade or class may require. For this reason it is customary, where it can be done, to use two or more legs in parallel'relation with corresponding number of leg delivery spouts for taking the grain from the several leg sections. In the past practice it has been difficult or impossible for known distributor systems to take care of grain from several legs, and it is a particular object of my invention to provide a distributor apparatus which without the necessity of building more room, may readily and conveniently handle the grain from two or more elevating legs and properly deliver it to any selected bin or bins.

In carrying out the above named object it is a further object of my invention to provide a closed distributor casing having chute connections with two or more elevator legs and a corresponding number of sliding troughs adapted to receive grain from said leg chutes, and constructed so that, with two or more legs-used simultaneously, shifting of grain from any of said legs to any selected bin may be accomplished.

It is a further object of my invention to provide outlets for the distributor casing such that two or more elevator legs may be simultaneously discharging their grain to a single bin.

The full objects and advantages of my invention will be given more pecifically and definitely in the appended specification and the novel features by which the above mentioned highly advantageous results: are obtained will be mrtimrlarly pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings illustrating an application at. my invention in one form:

Fig. 1 is a side elevational view with some: parts in section of my distributor mechanism as it is mounted in the distributor room at the top of the elevator in its relation to the elevating legs.

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation view taken longitudinzally through. mydistributor on. an. scale shown. in. compressed term.

Fig. 3 is a; tragm'entary sectional view of a partof what is. shown in Pig. 2 illustrating; the delivery nozzle as withdrawn from a chme'socket.

Fig.- 4 is a sectional view taken; on. line 44 ofFig, 2..

Fig. 5 is an end plan. view of the distributor taken on line- 5 012 Fig; 1..

Fig. 6" is aperspective: view partly in section of the delivery end or the sliding trough.

Fig. 7 a perspective view of the traction and of the delivery trough.

Fig. 8 is a transverse sectional. view taken online 8-& of Fig. 1.

Fig. 9 is a fragmentary sectional. View of a part of what is shown in Fig.- 8- with. the sliding trough lifted.

Fig; 1'0-is a fragmentary sectional view on. enlarged scaletaken on line [0-40 of Fig. 1:.

Fig. 11 is a top plan view of one of the sliding troughs very much compressed showing the po-= sition of the guides for the trough lifting members.

Fig-12 illustrates in general perspective the relation of the means for sliding the chute. slide to the means for securing it in position 101' male-- try with any selected bin spout;

Fig. 13' shows the manner in which the liftin arrangement is applied for holding the chute slide in position for registry with a selected'bm spout.

livery spout H for the second of said legs, as clearly indicated in Figs. 5, 8 and 10.

A distributor body l9 and a slide extension 20, Fig. 1, are held from framing 2|, 22 and. 23 in an angular position relative to the distributor floor I2 and leg spouts l3 and [4, as clearly shown in Fig. l. The distributor body l3 and slide extension embody an enclosed continuous chamber 60, formed of side walls BI and 62, Figs. 8 and 10.. a top wall 24, abottom. wall 36,-a front end wall 53,. and a back. end wall i4. As shown in Figs. 1, 4 and 8, side walls GI and 62 of the distributor body, have extension portions 65 and F6 which extend into angularly disposed bottom wall members 61 and 68. Except for grain discharge openings hereinafter described, the walls 61 and 6'8" close the bottom of the distributor body! and. a. frontend wall 69 and an extension 10 of rear end wall 64 closes the rear portion of the depending or extended part of the distributor body.

Through the. top cover: 24 overlying both; the distributor body #9 and. the slide-receiving ex.- tension 2i extendsthe legchutes H and H from. the grain delivery extension l6. As best shown inllig..2 each otlegch-utes Hand. I1 is provided withabottom wall 25 which isropen. as indicated at 2&- and at its end 2115 projected into a space. 28. in. a slide member 29.

As. has shomin Figs. 8-; and. 16.. the: slide member 29 comprisesta bottom wall: 30 and side walls 3| and 32 which terminate at their tops with. inwardly turned: flanges and 34. This leaves open. top space between the facing; edgesof. flanges, 33 and 34 as very clearly shown in Figs. 8- and 16.. extending longitudinally sub stantially the length at the slide member; 29. And through this opening 35 projects. the feed spout H: (or H from the: head'casingextension: Hi. The arrangcmentis such that sliding trough. 291 may move freely along: the distributor spout M of a grain elevating leg runnmgrespectively into" and from the head casing t5. Innismuch as this structure is well known and the details 01'. it donot enter into the applicanfls invention it need not be described further than to state that the grain is carried up the upspout H in bucketsand goes over a head pulley in the casing is so that the grain from the buckets is dumped into an extension f6 of'the head casing, while the empty buckets return through the down-spout i4, this grain being elevated, as stated heretofore, from the dump. at

' .ie. bottom. From the extension IS the grain passes through a leg spout f1. Fig. 1 shows the side of a leg. It. will be understood that other legs parallel and operated by the same. belt pulley l8 may be employed. Commonly there may be two such. legs having respectively the delivery spout. ll for the first thereot and a second debody H and the-floor of. its extension; 20. This atlfi inFigs. l, 2 and; 10.

Theehuteslide 2% is. made up. of. the bottom walk 30 and side walls 3| and 32. and a rear end wallii. Italao carries a liner member comprised of bottom wall it andwside walls Hand. The last two walls are inwardly sloped by engagement wirlhrmbber strips 5k and. 52, Fig. 10, to form ledges. 4i and 42. As clearly shown in Figs. 2 and 6, the end wall extends downwardly so as to provide an angularly disposed downward spout section 4%,. which is also shown in Figs. 2 and. 3.

This angularly disposed extension is adapted to register wither to be seated in angul'arly disposed downwardlyextending, bin. spout passages which, as best-shown in; Fig.2, are formed; in, the main distributor body and extend. at. a. backward sngleto the direction orextent of the. maincasing section. fiorming, thev connected chamber in parts l9 and 20 thereof. I

As shown in. Fig. 2 in the example given there are 17 of. these. bin spout: passages, each. adapted to be connected with-1 a separate bin in the. elevator by means of bin spouting. For convenience in nomenclature these. several spout sections will be designated SI, S2, S3 through. to Sll, as clearly shownln Figs. 1 and. 2. It will be noted that in Fig. 1. the spout extension 46 is registering with the last spout passage. S ll while in Fig. 2 spout extension 4& is registered with the first bin spout section S1.

Resting upon the upper exposed edges of the soft rubber blocks El, 52. and 54 is a bottom comprising the cover member 43 having side flanges 44 and 45 which are adapted to engage beneath the inturned flanges 33 and 34 of the chute slide, as most clearly shown in Fig. 8. A pair of lifter pins 53 and 51, Figs, 1 and 8, extend in spaced relation through openings in the top member 24 and are secured to bars 58 and 59, Fig. 11, which in turn are secured to the upstanding flange members 44 and 45. Strong compression springs II and 'II' surround the lifting bars 56 and 51 within the chamber 69 and act to force the cover 43 down upon the upper edges 4| and 42 of walls 39 and 49 and upon the exposed portions of rubber blocks and 52, thus sealing the top of the space within the chute slides at all times excepting when the cover member 43 is pulled out to lift the entire end of the chute slide to withdraw the spout extension from the spout passage into which it has been registered.

The cover member 43 extends slightly beyond the full distance of the length of the slide chute 29, as shown in Fig. 1. Since it is held at all times at a sharp angle downwardly it is at all times subject to a pull of gravity. In order to support it by other means than the pins 59 and 5'! a pair of bars I2 and I3, Figs. 1 and 11, are extended forward and connected by a cross bar I4 to which is secured a. bolt or cable I5 and this in turn passes through the end wall 63 and is provided with a head or nut I6 which overlies a Washer 11 so that the Weight of the cover 43 and attached parts is held suspended from the end plate 53.

The means for applying force to the cover member 43 in any case whether it be for a single chute slide, as in Fig. 9, or a multiple of chute slides, as in Fig. 8, consists of a main cord I8 which runs over a pulley I9 and connects at 89 with the lifting pin 56 and a branch cord 8| which connects with the lifting pin 51 at 82. The cord 79 extends through the various floors of the building as at 83, Fig. 1, preferably down a chute or pipe, not shown, to the bottom floor of the elevator. There a handle 85 is provided for exercising the necessary pull on the cords 18, 9I to lift the cover member against the force of spaced springs 'II and 'II' a sufficient distance to cause it to engage the flanges 33 and 34 on the slide member 29 and lift or swing it sufficiently to withdraw the spout section 46 from one of the openings in which it may be registered. When the cover has been lifted to lift the chute slide it will hold it until the chute slide has been moved along the cover to bring the spout extension into registering position and then upon release of the handle 85 gravity will bring the chute slide down so that the spout extension 46 will drop into registering position with the selected opening to spout passages SI, S2, S3, and the like.

To move the chute slide a cord 89 runs over a pulley 8'! on the end plate 93, Figs. 2 and 5, and is connected at 89 to a cross bar 89 on the bottom front of chute slide 29. The cord 89, as clearly shown in Fig. 1, then passes over a top pulley 99 with an intervening run 9| and over a top pulley 92 and thence downward to a suitable counterweight 93. From the counterweight 93 extension cord 94 goes to a handle 95 located at the bottom floor of the elevator. Upon cord extension 94 is a ring 96, Figs. 12 and 13. A securing bar 91 is provided with a number of pegs or hooks 98, 99, I99, etc., which are progressively numbered I, 2, 3, and the like, as indicated in Fig. 12. These numbers correspond to the series of spout passages SI, S2, S3, etc., with which the spout extension 49 may be caused to register; SI being the lowest spout chute, S2 the next highest, and so on throughout the whole series,

From this it will be apparent that when .the operator wishes to change the position of the chute slide for delivery to any particular bin spout he will first pull on the handle so as to swing the chute slide 29 to bring the spout extension 49 out of register with one of the openings to spout passages SI, S2, etc., and then he will pull down on the handle until he has caused the chute slide to be moved to a point to bring the ring 96 adjacent the particular peg 98, 99, I99, etc., corresponding to the bin spout and bin which has been selected. When that point has been reached he will hook the ring 96 over the selected bin and release both handles 85 and 95 when the chute slide will settle into position with the spout extension 49 in register with the selected bin spout passage.

It will be noted that this is simply and easily efiected from the bottom floor of the elevator, that the closed chamber 69 of the distributor system is not opened at any point and the change is made so as to entirely eliminate any escape of dust from the system. Furthermore, that the parts are so arranged in connection with the sealed-in distributor chamber that there is no opening for escape of dust from it at any point or in" any part of its operation, either during de-' livery of grain or when the chute slide is being positioned to deliver into another bin spout passage.

In the form of the invention illustrated there are two chute Slides 29 which have their bottom walls 39 resting upon the tops of partitions IOI which divide the main distributor chamber into the bin spout passages SI to SI'I. And of course the bottoms 39 will also rest upon the bottom 39 of the extended portion 29 of the main casing. Since the two chute slides and all of the elements for operating them are identical a description has been given here of only one of said slides. And it will be understood that the passages designated as SI to SI1 will similarly be provided for each chute slide. passages, as shown in Fig. 8, extend in parallel alongside of a separator strip I92, and dump into the common hopper I93, from which the grain from one or both elevator legs delivered by spouts I7 and II will go through openings I93 to one or the other of bin spouts I94 or I05. As clearly shown in Figs. 1, 4 and 8, the sets of bin spouting I94 alternate with sets of bin spouting I95, discharging respectively in opposite directions, which makes it convenient to carry the bin spoutings to the various bins indicated in Fig. 1 at I 96.

But it is to be noted that either or both leg spouts I I or II are adapted simultaneously to deliver through the single openin I93 to one or the other of the bin spouts I 94, I95. And of course equally either the leg spout IT or I? may operate independently of the other, so that, even though both leg spouts are delivering simultaneously the same type of grain, one may deliver through spouting I94 to one of the bins I96 and the other may deliver through spouting I95 to another bin I96.

The advantages of my invention will be quite apparent from the foregoing description. These advantages include, first, a simple compact distributor organization adaptable for use with one or a plurality of elevator legs which may be conveniently and economically positioned on the Actually these distributor floor of an elevator and quite generally without the necessity of building additional room on the distributor floor or elsewhere to receive it.

Second, the means for transferring the grain from the leg spout to. the bin spouting and the means for shifting and connecting it with selected different ones of the bin spouting are completely housed in a dust-tight chamber, so dust is prevented from escaping both in the delivery of grain to a bin and at the time the delivery means is shifted to deliver to another bin. This is an important advantage, since the escape of dust is dangerous because of its liability to explode if ignited, and, furthermore, adds to the expense of keeping the elevator properly cleaned. Also in the same connection there is marked convenience in operating the distributor by reason of the fact that changes from one bin to another are effected by means which extend to the bottom elevator floor.

A third very great advantage resides in the fact that the distributor is located above the distributor floor. In. general the tops of the bins come, or should if possible come to the distributor floor, and my invention makes possible positioning by farthe greater part of the bin spoutin above the distributor floor, without carrying the spouting to a lower'level. This very materially increases the bin space of the entire elevator, a matter of marked importance under present-day conditions, where the grain harvest has been so much compressed that the volume of grain received during the harvest period i much greater than it was at the time most of the country vators were constructed.

Further advantages resides in theeconomy of construction and installation of the distributor which promotes its practical application to country elevators asthe same exist at the present time.

Iclaim:

1. A grain distributor, comprising a casing forming a closed chamber extending close to the head casing of an elevating leg and angularly. with respect thereto, a leg spout forconveying grain into said chamber, said spout beingsealed into the top wall of said chamber and projecting a limited distance therein, a multiplicity of passage openings from said chamber, bin spouting united with said openings, and means in the chamber for closing all said openings except one and for receiving and directing the grain from the leg spout into the one unclosed opening.

2. A grain distributor, comprising a casing forming a closed chamber extending close to the head casing of an elevator leg and angularly with respect thereto, a leg spout for conveying grain into said chamber, a multiplicity of passage openings from said chamber, bin spouting united with said openings, a chute slide in said chamber cooperating with said leg spout having a closed bottom extending into a spout extension adapted to register with a selected one of said openings and to transfer the grain from the leg spout into said selected opening only, said chute slide having an opening along its top for receiving and permitting movement along it of the leg spout, and means for operating the slide.

3. A grain distributor, comprising a casingforming an elongated closed chamber, a leg spout for conveying grain into said chamber, a chute slide in said chamber cooperating with said leg spout having anopening along slide in said chamber cooperating with said leg spout having an opening along its top for receiving the leg spout and permitting its movement along the chamber, a multiplicity of openings from said chamber cooperating with the chute slide to transfer the grain from the leg spout through a selected one of said openings, at spout extension on said slide adapted to register with any of said openings, means including a cord running to the bottom floor of the elevator and attached to the end of the chute for sliding the chute longitudinally of the chamber to bring the spout extension into register with any of said openings, and means for securing the cord, said means including a numbered scale for indicating the particular opening with which caused to cooperate.

5. A grain distributor, comprising a casing forming an elongated closed chamber, a leg spout for conveying grain into said chamber, a chute slide in said chamber cooperating with said leg spout having an openingalong its top for receiving the leg spout and permitting movement of. the chute slide along the chamber, a multiplicity of openings from said chamber cooperating with the chute slide to transfer the grain from the leg spout through a selected one of said openings, a spout extension in said slide adapted to register with any of said openings, a lifting plate adapted to contact for relative sliding movements a portion of said chute slide for lifting the same, and a cord running to the, bottom floor of the elevator and attached to the lifting device for effecting lifting thereof.

6. A grain distributor, comprising a casing forming an elongated closed chamber, a leg spout for conveying grain into said chamber, a chute slide in said chamber having an-open'ing along its top for receiving the leg spout and permitting movement of the chute slide along the chamber, a multiplicity of openings from said chamber cooperating With the chute slide to transfer the grain from the leg spout through a selected one of said openings, a spout extension in said slide adapted to register with any of said openings, 8;

lifting plate adapted to contact for relative sliding movements a portion of said chute slide for lifting the same, a cord running to the bottom floor of the elevator and attached to the lifting device for effecting lifting thereof, and a cord running to the bottom floor of the elevator and attached to the end of the chute for sliding the chute longitudinally of the chamber to bring the the slide is the chute slide to transfer the grain from the leg spout through a selected one of said openings, a spout extension on said slide adapted to register with any of said openings, a cover plate resting upon the open side of said chute slide and underlying projections from portions of the chute slide therefrom, a spring holding the cover in contact with the chute slide, and means connected with the cover to move the same in opposition to said spring and thereby move the chute slide to withdraw the spout extension from any opening with which it may be in register.

8. A grain distributor, comprising a casing forming an elongated closed chamber, a leg spout for conveying grain into said chamber, a multiplicity of bin spouts leading from said chamber, each of said bin spouts having spout connection with an elevator bin, a chute slide having a spout connection adapted to have a portion thereof register substantially Within any of said bin spouts and adapted to convey the grain from the leg spout to the selected bin spout, and controllable means external to said chamber for simultaneously lifting said chute slide and effecting movement of it along the chamber for positioning the spout extension in one of said bin spouts to deliver grain to a selected bin.

9. A grain distributor, comprising a casing forming an elongated closed chamber, said chamber extending at a very considerable angle to the horizontal, a leg spout having its discharge end sealed and projecting downwardly within said chamber for conveying grain thereinto, a multiplicity of bin spouts leading from said chamber, means sealed within the chamber which receives the projecting portion of said spout and is movable along it for connection with any of said bin spouts to convey grain from the leg spout to the bin spout, and externally controlled means for placing said conveying means in operative relation to any of said bin spouts,

said externally controlled means acting upon the conveying means entirely within the closed chamber, whereby escape of dust either in conveying the grain or in changing the grain feed is eliminated.

10. A grain distributor, comprising a casing forming an elongated sealed chamber, a plurality of leg spouts having their discharge ends sealed into said chamber for conveying grain thereinto, a plurality of sets of bin spout extensions, a separate chute slide cooperating with each set of said extensions and one of said leg spouts for conveying grain to the bin spout extensions, each set of said bin spout extensions delivering into a common hopper, a single opening in each of said hoppers, a spout connection from each hopper opening to a bin, said openings and spout connections being angularly disposed in alternate directions for each successive hopper, and means adapted to be positioned so that each leg spout may be made operative to feed to any hopper and bin spout independently or all leg spouts to any one opening and bin spout together.

11. A grain distributor comprising a casing forming an elongated closed chamber, a separator strip along the center of said chamber, a series of hoppers below the separator strip, a single bin spout extension from each of said hoppers, a pair of leg spouts sealed into the chamber for conveying grain independently to one or another of said hopper portions, and a pair of slides each associated with a leg spout, said slides being adapted to be positioned so each leg spout may be made operative to feed into any hopper section and the bin spout leading therefrom, the two leg spouts simultaneously feeding into independent bin spouts and bins, or so that both leg spouts may be fixed to feed to a single hopper portion and a single bin spout and to a single bin.

RAY A. PATTERSON 

